October 14, 2005-(TUSCOLA) – I’m your number one fan! The award-winning Actors' Rural Theatre Company (ARTco) will present a fall thriller, "Stephen King’s Misery", at the Fine Arts Center in Tuscola at 211 E Overton starting Thursday October 27th.

This stunning adaptation of the classic thriller by Stephen King is a tour de force for actors, adapted for the stage by Simon Moore. Popular romance novelist Paul Sheldon retires each winter to Colorado to write another work featuring heroine Misery Chastain. Driving while inebriated, he loses control of his car. He regains consciousness in a filthy, dilapidated farmhouse that is cut off from the outside world by a blizzard. Annie, the schizophrenic occupant, is his "number one fan" and she insists she will nurse him. His legs are crushed and he is virtually a prisoner dependant on her for pain relief.

She discovers that his new book is not about Misery and she forces him to destroy it and write another. Thus begins Paul's descent into a living hell of pain, humiliation and degradation. Like Scheherazade, he must write a new chapter every day to stay alive.

Directed by Alex Miller and starring Preston Tewell and LaDonna Wilson in the roles of Paul and Annie, this production is ripe for thrilling audiences this Halloween. Please note that this production is intended for mature audiences, and does contain adult language and violence.

Performances are October 27-28 at 7:30 p.m.; October 29th at 7:30 p.m. and midnight; October 30th at 2:30 p.m.; October 31st at 7:30 p.m.; Nov 4-5 at 7:30 p.m.; and November 6th at 2:30 p.m. For reservations or more information, call the Fine Arts Center at 253-6699 or visit www.artcospotlight.com.